Thursday, June 12, 2014

The New York Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) is hosting an exhibition, Masters of Fire: Copper Age Art from Israel (February-June 2014). It is accompanied by a catalogue edited by Michael Sebbane, Osnat Misch-Brandl, and Daniel M. Master (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014). The 157 exhibits are on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Museum, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, the Katzrin Museum and Tel Aviv University. There are seven explanatory essays (with critical apparatus) by Daniel M. Master, Thomas E. Levy, Dina Shalem, Osnat Misch-Brandl, Yorke M. Rowan, Michael Sebbane, and Orit Shamir.

As Roger S. Bagnall reminds us the Nahal Mishmar hoard lies at the heart of the exhibition. Material from excavated and recorded contexts are vital for the interpretation of this period of the Middle East. Associated finds build up a richer picture of society and how it developed.

Among the financial sponsors of the exhibition and this catalogue are individuals who appear to have been associated with recently surfaced antiquities such as the gold phiale returned to Sicily, and the cuneiform tablets returned from Cornell to Iraq. It is good that an exhibition like this can encourage those benefactors to move their interests from collecting to the public display and interpretation of archaeological finds.

Coins matter for the archaeological record. But now US Representatives Charles Rangel and Steve Israel are considering a change to legislation to exempt coins from the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA). This act implements the US ratification of the 1970 UNESCO Convention.

I have been working on a review article relating to attributions for Cycladic figures. I observe that not all have realised that the terminology has changed.

The 2007 handbook to the Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrates the "Namepiece of the Bastis Master". By 2012 the curatorial staff had recognised that this was now attributed to the "Bastis Sculptor" (Checklist, no. 4).[1] The 2010 Handbook of the Antiquities Collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum contains a colour photograph of the "Name-piece of the Steiner Master" (Checklist, no. 6).[2] This is all the more surprising in that the 2002 Silent Witnesses exhibition included the figure with the attribution to the "Steiner Sculptor". And in December 9, 2010, Christie's New York auctioned a figure attributed to "the Schuster Master" for $16,882,500 (lot 88; Checklist, no. 2). This had originally formed part of the Marion Schuster collector, but Getz-Gentle does not add that its later collecting history included Robin Symes and Phoenix Ancient Art. There is no clarification of the report in the New York Times that the figure was allegedly sold by Michael Steinhardt.[3]

Monday, June 9, 2014

Composite picture showing the Minoan larnax in the Michael C. Carlos Museum (right) and image from one of the seized photographic archives.

Last week's news that Karlsruhe returned two Cycladic objects acquired in the 1970s to Greece is likely to place increased pressure on the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. It is some seven years since the Greek Government made a request for three items acquired in recent years. One of the three items is a Minoan larnax that is clearly recognisable in the paperwork of one of the seized photographic archives.

Will the museum continue to ignore the Greek claim? What is the professional response from the curatorial staff?

Saturday, June 7, 2014

It appears that the legal process to decide on Italian claims to the Fano Athlete has been put on hold (LA Times). Yet one of the issues to emerge (via Jason Felch) back in January 2010 was the due diligence process undertaken (or not) by the J. Paul Getty Museum.

It would be interesting for the Getty to release the documents to show how the curatorial team at the museum responded to concerns voiced by Dietrich von Bothmer and Thomas Hoving.

It is one of three figures attributed to the Karlsruhe/Woodner Sculptor by Pat Getz-Gentle (Personal Styles, Checklist no. 2). The other two figures attributed to this sculptor do not come from secure archaeological contexts. One formed part of the Goulandris collection (no. 724; "Keros, in a cave"; Doumas, Early Cycladic Culture no. 222, "Possible provenance Keros"), and the other is in the Harmon collection (NAC no. 39; Keros Hoard no. 170) reportedly from the Keros Haul.

Is this one of the "sculptors" who could fall into the "inadequate" category because of the lack of secure information?

Cycladic figure returned to Greece from Karlsruhe.Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Karlsruhe returned two Cycladic objects today: a Spedos marble female figure, and a ceramic 'frying pan' (Press release, Greek). Both were acquired in the 1970s. The objects will be displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

This is a visual reminder of the major looting of Cycladic cemeteries especially since the Second World War. Only a tiny percentage of the figures in the corpus have secure archaeological contexts.

It is significant that Greece is once again seeking to repatriate material.

Will the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University be responding to requests to return their three items identified from the seized photographic archives?

Cycladic 'frying-pan' returned from Karlsruhe.Source: Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe will be returning two Cycladic objects, a figure and a bowl, to Greece, The ceremony is apparently due to take place in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens tomorrow, Friday June 6, 2014.

The claim was first made in October 2011.

If this return is confirmed, it will hint that the Badisches Landesmuseum has now accepted that it was buying recently surfaced material.

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About Me

David Gill is Professor of Archaeological Heritage and Director of Heritage Futures at the University of Suffolk. He was a Rome Scholar at the British School at Rome and a Sir James Knott Fellow at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He was subsequently part of the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and Reader in Mediterranean Archaeology, Swansea University. He holds the Archaeological Institute of America's Outstanding Public Service Award (2012).